Be like a balloon
I’ve been struggling with the “peng” jin and can’t quite find the right balance between Peng and Muscle. Peng, it seems should have a balloon like quality to it – soft when in contact with something, but strong in terms of the quality of the expansion. It’s the soft and strong that i’m trying to grasp. When I try to be soft, or more accurately be relaxed, the hand tends to be “limp”. When I try to be strong, the hand just becomes stiff with little flexibility in the wrist, elbow, shoulder. Trying to find the balance is, erm, difficult (which i think is an understatement!).
The speed at which you train your form seems to help with honing this quality. The slower it is, the better you can feel the quality of “soft and strong”. However, the leg will take its toll and thus shortening the training time.
Seems like training leg strength, relaxed kua, relaxed limbs etc must all come at the same time! I think that’s probably one reason why form training is preferred over standing pole exercises (zhan zhuang). My current teacher made this point when i first started training with him. I’m pleasantly surprised when chessman made the same point in his post.
So back to form training…
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Category: Life in Motion | Tags: Tai Chi, tips, training 13 comments »
August 11th, 2006 at 6:57 am
Glad you liked the post. I would go so far as to say that most people doing zhanzhuang are standing in a “dead” way. They tend to equate length of time that they can stand with progress rather than shooting for quality and a sense of aliveness. That’s why form training is so important IMO.
August 11th, 2006 at 7:12 am
I still feel that zhan zhuang is very important. It’s quite difficult to development central equilibrium if forms practice is the only training. To mix things up a bit, I’ll do zhan zhuang with form postures, similar to what chessman alluded to villagers holding the single whip for corrections. To me, I’d consider that a form of zhan zhuang.
Chessman,
What is standing in a “dead way”? In zhan zhuang, I’m taught to use some visualization techniques, and to me, that’s not dead at all, but conforms with the still on the outside, moving on the inside maxim. I do agree that form training is also important, but I feel that zhan zhuang is essential.
August 11th, 2006 at 2:52 pm
If I may be so bold
As to suggest
That your problem
Is all in the mind
What we called
Separating intention from shape
Seems like the
Root cause of it
Cause physically you can’t
Expand your limbs without
Activating the muscles
Into a “resisting” mode
Hence the feeling
Of stiffness and inflexibility
Also if you don’t mind
Me yapping a bit more
Sung seems lacking
Cause as you point out
Your legs grow tired
When you go slower
But why should it
May I ask
If you are sung
Because what you said
Is inconsistent with
Playing form with sung
If anything be it
Fast or slow or slower
Sung should give you
A most comfortable feeling
Of being supported by qi
Which is driven by intention
That is my opinion
For what its worth
If you like to know
Whether we are on
Same wavelength about taiji
Please go sgwutan under
Wushu Discussion, Internal Strength
And try the three questions posted there
August 11th, 2006 at 3:02 pm
sorry update….got my questions bumped to http://blog.sgwutan.com/
August 11th, 2006 at 8:30 pm
Hi ZMS.
Just for clarification, are you implying that using leg strength in form is a bad idea? I asked a similar question to my yang style instructor once. I asked him if sweating was ok during form practice and he basically said sometimes, but not usually. Hmm.. after thinking about this again, I’m not sure anymore.
August 11th, 2006 at 9:09 pm
[...] Working on the hips/kua aspect will be easier to address in my practice than the ego aspect. Thanks to Shang Lee’s Post on Peng, and ZenMindSword’s prose on Sung, I have even more things to think about during training!!! All joking aside, I do thank them as revisiting this topic has revealed some core topics for me to address. Thanks, guys! [...]
August 11th, 2006 at 10:31 pm
Wow, even a poem!
I think ZMS is on to something about the yi. I think concentrating on relaxing is quite key. However, the concentration normally breaks with distractions, like the oncoming force, the leg not holding up, the sweat. All these translates to stiff arms, stiff kua… and it goes into a downward spiral of completely breaking the concentration!
Any ideas on keeping the concentration?
August 12th, 2006 at 1:54 am
I think what ZMS is getting at is that Yi is the most important thing. We should focus on that before going on to other things. This is kinda of like the alternate approach to zhan zhuang. You can either fight your way through the time, or just do as long as you can while you can remain relaxed and clear mind. This could be as little as 3 mins, but overall, it gradually builds over time and you won’t have to try and release the tension brought up by trying to fight the stance later.
You’re right, I do think ZMS is on to something that I am overlooking..
August 12th, 2006 at 8:54 am
Is using leg strength
A bad idea?
That depends on
Who you ask?
The me before current taiji
Says OK no problem
In fact good as
Leg strength is part
Of internal strength mechanism
Or so I believed back then
But the me now says
If your body be the
Conduit for your mind
The more relaxed
The more your mind
Intention can go through
Leg strength is a kinda
Tension that inhibits
The mind from
Flowing freely out
So you are not sure
But I am sure
Cause this be my experience
Now ever since I lost my mind
And found my intention
Once I lost my body
August 12th, 2006 at 9:03 am
Concentrating on relaxing
Is the key and yet
Not the key
Why do I say that?
Unless you have a
Method for practicing
Relaxation, just merely
Chanting “relax”, “relax”
Won’t help you
To do so
And may even
Lull your mind to dullness
And eventual distraction
Breaking up goal of concentrating
Thus to concentrate
Do not concentrate!!!
Just like the zen lesson
Of not thinking about “not thinking”
So what be the right way
You may ask
Easy! In our tradition
We chant the instructions
Mentally to play the form
Just like repeating zen koan
Over and over and over
Reining in the scattered mind
To become unified mind
To concentrate into one-mind
When the stage of no-mind
Is slowly reached
Great doubt will be generated
On the impossibility
Of the body of writings
Called taiji classics
Then when all seems lost
The mind suddenly lights up
And like a light shining
Through a foggy night
The doubt vanishes
And complete awareness
Is now at your command
Of shen, yi and qi
August 12th, 2006 at 9:08 am
Brother Wuji
If I may say
I am not
On to something
Cause there is
Nothing for me
To get on
That is not already there
The form be
A road map
That I but
Follow closely
And I am just
Relating my experience
Which is why for me
To talk about taiji
Outside of what
I am learning
Would be totally
Meaningless
August 13th, 2006 at 1:49 pm
I would add one more thing to the excellent suggestion that ZMS pointed out, that to concentrate, u have to “not concentrate”. I first have to believe that i can reach such a stage. Without that belief, there will always be doubt that “i can’t do this” and hence lose the will to concentrate (or not as it may seem!).
August 13th, 2006 at 8:15 pm
shanglee, its not a matter of belief. its a matter of following the mehod and practicing diligently everyday. My teacher never said “believe”. All i did was practice one form everyday in accordance with the principles and methods for cultivating shen, yi, qi and the understanding just came with time.